Under the Pier 2

This exhibition in Adelaide offered an opportunity to rework an earlier one (at Artspace, Sydney), also titled Under the Pier, for a context with its own landscape and colonial history.

On the far side of the gallery two large mounds of sand were covered in vivid blue plaster. Along the two edges of the space were colourful woollen fabrics, grasses dipped in plaster and detritus found in the nearby Adelaide streets, along with 100 folded oil pastel drawings.

The drawings, titled  Eliza’s Letters, were created during a residency in London. They were based on letters exchanged between my great great aunt Eliza Reed and her niece who migrated to Tasmania. They were written in the period from 1850 to 1875.

Under the Pier 2 was exhibited at the Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide in 1996.